


They Named Her Fragile

by DoeOfTheWood



Series: Wives' Tales [1]
Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Brief mention of sexual assault, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Gen, Most of these characters are just briefly mentioned, Takes place during Fury Road, This is a Cheedo-centric story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 19:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7476843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoeOfTheWood/pseuds/DoeOfTheWood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fragile was not the name the Wives gave Cheedo, but on the Fury Road, she created a new name for herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Named Her Fragile

Fragile was not the name the Wives gave Cheedo, like Knowing or Capable. It was given to her by her captors, like Splendid. "My fragile desert flower," Immortan Joe would call her. Those words made her uncomfortable, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

When she was taken up, she was nearly 6500 days old. She had come to the Citadel 10 days before, hearing tells of Immortan Joe raising up young full-lives and giving them clean food and water. For a girl who recently lost her family, the prospect had its appeal.

It quickly lost its shine once she realized what she had to give up in exchange for precious resources. She heard the other girls scream and sob and fight when their times came. But her captors never touched her in that way.

When she was examined by the Organic Mechanic, he said that she "wasn't fully developed yet" and that any sons that she would have would be unlikely to survive until she was 300 or so days older. So Immortan Joe kept her locked away in the Vault where she could breathe clean air and drink clean water while she matured to give him sons worthy to be his heir.

During that time, she learned how to play the part of the fragile woman. She learned to be docile and submissive around the Immortan. She learned how to use her frailty to her advantage - to protect her sister wives with it when she needed to. It wasn't entirely an act though. She had never been alone for long in her life and had become used to relying on others, a luxury in the world she lived in.

So, on the Fury Road, though she was not brave like Toast or defiant like Angharad, she knew that she could help Furiosa in her own fragile way.

Rictus had always liked her and, once, tried to take her as his own wife. That's what got her and her sister wives those awful chastity belts shortly before they escaped.

She took off her Vuvalini accoutrements - those were not the trappings of a fragile woman after all - and climbed on the hood of the War Rig in only her Citadel linens. She was the perfect vision of a damsel in distress. After all, Joe had kept her safe and watered - how could she not want to go back to him?

She called out to Rictus. "Take me!" was all she had to say before she felt his powerful arms lift her into the Gigahorse.

But it was all a ruse. When she saw Furiosa, she reached her hand down to help her up, and for an earth-shattering moment, Cheedo was terrified that Rictus would punish her for her "disobedience." But that moment, the wastelander decided to throw a skull at Rictus's head and distract him enough to help Furiosa.

When she pulled Furiosa up, Cheedo the Fragile was gone. She was now Cheedo the Enduring, Cheedo the Mischievous, Cheedo the Deceiver.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Sorry it's so short - I tried to go into more detail, but it started to grow a life of its own and got more and more convoluted, so the shorter version was better.
> 
> I went with how old Courtney Eaton was when Fury Road came out to guess Cheedo's age.
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments!


End file.
